Atlanta most certainly has put on a show this winter. The Snowpocalypse of two weeks ago (which I was lucky enough to avoid) had people stranded in cars, at their workplaces, or in various restaurants, shops and private homes that opened their doors to complete strangers in a true display of Southern hospitality.
Good folks all over town headed out to the highways with hot drinks and food for those who were stuck on the treacherously icy roads. I've been known to mock Atlanta drivers on occasion, but what happened here last month was no laughing matter - it was downright dangerous. Roads large and small all over the greater Atlanta metro area were clogged.
This week we were better prepared, if only because schools closed and many workplaces asked their employees to work from home. A far cry from 30 January, when cars and trucks littered the highways, this time the city became an overgrown ghost town. Traffic cameras that two weeks ago displayed the extent of the chaos in 10 minute updates, now showed the few who were venturing out into the frozen stillness. Many areas experienced power outages which added insult to injury.
But not all was doom and gloom. The kids on my street built snowmen - one with a hard hat and another with a pink bonnet. Families spent time together making candles, playing games and enjoying time seldom spent together.
Yesterday morning, before the sun came out and the city began to thaw, I woke to a layer of snow-covered ice on the trees, with a bright red cardinal who hung around long enough for me to grab my camera. Seeing him sitting there in the confusion of branches brought to mind the closing lines of a poem my Mum used to have hanging on the wall:
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.*
* From Max Ehrmann, Desiderata 1927.
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